>> ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the presentation of the colors and the singing of the national anthem. ♪

♪

[ applause ] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome steve hengineg executive director metropolitan transportation commission. >> good afternoon, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the toll bridge program oversight committee and my committee colleagues, and the director of cal transand the executive director of the california transportation commission, it is my great pleasure to welcome you at long last, to the opening ceremonies for the new east band of the san francisco oakland bay bridge.

that is an applause line. [ applause ] >> i know that you joined me in thanking the oakland institute color guard and the choir, and their wonderful presentation and our ceremonies. [ applause ] >> and i guess that i will not ask you if it is hot enough. and it certainly is, so do please, keep cool and gentleman take off your jackets if you need to and keep the water going and keep an eye on your neighbor. and i'm going to ask you to rise again and that might create more air to hear our invocation from the reverend jay junior, from the oakland baptist church.

>> let us pray. oh, lord our god thou who art the architect, engineer and creator of the universe, we have gathered on this historic occasion in a spirit of joy and celebration. oh, god we give thanks for the generosity of your divine grace and for the supply of the needed material resources and for the provision of human expertise to accomplish this magnificent project. we lift up thanks for the commitment, cooperation, and hard work by so many people in

so many roles and at so many levels of responsibility to bring this beautiful bridge from creative conception to concrete completion. we pray your blessings upon this illustrious bridge and for the safety and well-being of all who shall traverse it. blessed oh, god, this triumphant celebration that we share. may this awe inspiring bridge inspire us all to reach our human potential as human bridges that will seek to bridge the gulfs that separate our diverse communities. may we too be bridges that will

connect people and bring them together, may we too be bridges that will provide for the common good may this wonderful bridge, this open inspire us to continue to envision bold and beautiful fetes in the service of all human kind. amen >> amen. >> thank you, reverend smith. the coats will keep peeling off as we go we will see who the last hold on out is. and i would also like to take this opportunity to welcome you to this building. and the newly renovated urban electric railway bridge yard shop building.

and also known as urbies for short. and that is one lowsy, and so we decided to rename it the bridge yard, which is the sign on the side of the building, this is what has prepared the key system train that used to run on the lower deck of the bay bridge before the commuter rail service seized? 1958 and for those transit advocate whose would like to blame me for that mistake, i hasten to add the train stop that was built the year before i was born. >> now it is time to wax poetic and we happen to have the person for the job, currently a professor of creative writing at uc river side and was craoe put to his post in 2012 and it is my pleasure to introduce him who has written a poem about our beautiful new bridge.

>> thank you, very much. it is a great pleasure to be here you look fabulous and this looks fabulous and i want to thank governor brown, for nominating me and confirming me as your poet laurit, and i would like to thank the arts council for doing the same and the university california river side and the department of transportation, and thank you so much. and i also wanted to introduce you to our youth poet of oakland, davis who is 70 years old and right there standing up. he is our new lauriet for oakland. >> thank you so much, my wife is right there, and who is my great inspiration and hadari who works so much for oakland and the arts. the bridge poem bay bridge inauguration poem, san francisco oakland bay bridge,

september 2, 2013. for all bridge dreamers, bridge builders and bridge crossers. self-sustaining, and a light unto itself. the dark that lifts us and it sings us as we pass bay bridge, i see you now, your new design risen, above star waters, a new galaxy appears. a new trillion may we live in your safety and in your carriage, and in your heart. my all of your hours and all of your lights embrace us once again. and may we crawl across your shoulders as bird, fish, singers and may we be the bridge for a new time of beauty and peace. let us thank the workers and the artists of space and

matter, one sound, one tree, one knitted, (inaudible) shawl, for our mothers, a lot she turns and protect and renewed waves of children, we are born to the choirs, and we are filled with light, strength, height, gratitude and violet ocean, stillness and we open our arms, our bridge of many bridges. and everything is different now. melodic, silver, harmonious, and everything is open now. spiritual, inhalation of the pacific rim, voyages migrations and the conversations of generations. and i want you to repeat this word after me, i am going to back up. conversations. viva.

>> viva, >> the worker applaud now, iron workers, painters, welders, planners, architects engineers, laborers, trades women, drivers, viva. >> lifters, callers, crane operators, viva. >> mixers, cable, viva. >> viva. after the earthquake, we shall live, yes. we shall live, we shall round dance in honor and spider buggy is coming up and light poles are holding steady and steady, and set up and north main span cable ready, ready. motion sense soars mr. pump, expansion tank, spider buggies coming up, spider buggies coming up. we shall live in our lumenscent room of lights and cosmos yes.

we shall hula dance in unity once again today. yes. and hand to hand, shoulder to shoulder, and wo ven and winged dancer we shall alive, gold and silver, and dark sequence with joy. we shall live, crossing into the other, from one to the second. and from the second to the late infinity, today, the chain is cut, and we are released, oakland, san francisco, earth, to all earth, ocean to sky, wind to star nebula once again you and me, we, the people, the people, (inaudible) it is the people, bay bridge, hold on to each other. move now.

rise now. for the world to see. thank you so much. [ applause ] >> thank you very much for those artful words and it is hard to believe that you are from southern california. you are welcome here any time. the construction of the newly span has been a public, private partnership from the get go and that spirit of partnership is in full force today as well. in particular, i would like to recognize the corporate sponsors of today's event, listed on the big screens. first off, presenting level sponsors bridge floor a joint vendor and ty wane

international and bright tell incorporated and ae com and xerox, thanks to these and all of our sponsors and while we are at it let's thank the bay bridge alliance and the president winston for making all of this. thank you. >> thank you. >> it is a landmark event marking the end of 24 years to deliver seismic safety to all seven of the toll bridges in the bay area something that we achieved as of today from the north, to the dumb barton in the south. that is an applause line too. >> today, we see the advent of a new architectural and

engineering. and the challenge is faced and many challenges faced and challenges met. and the new also serves as a case study for the long, and the permitting and politics that seem to be a part of any big public works project and contemporary california and as we end the journey, the high speed rail project is just beginning its own trial by fire. but we can't celebrate the new span without acknowledging the old one. and while some of the obstacles have changed against the original bridge was built in the 30s, the spring of inspiration for such a project endures. and in the words of frank marion written 80 years ago ring true today. he said, the bridges do not build themselves. and before the labor in concrete and steel, there was the labor in the minds of men.

and we now building this bridge would be remiss indeed if we did not set forth in the record of sunk and towers raised in the acknowledgment of the service performed at the birth of this project and the subsequent developments by the citizens public officers and civic organizations. and for thousands of men and women around the world that contributed to the construction and for all of the people in california, this is a day to celebrate. and today we have a right to embrace, a sense of achievement, and a sense of thanksgiving. none of us will forget that the newly sfan is first and foremost the public safety project and despite the journey length it has been completed before the arrival of our next big earthquake. and thank goodness for that. [ applause ]

>> the bridge is looking and just a bonus that all of us who are so fortunate to live here in the bay area, will be able to enjoy. and so today, we will say hello, to the newly span, but we also say good bye to the original version. perhaps, a few comparisons between the old and the new are in order and you can follow along on your screens. the original was completed in the great depression and the new bridge as we weathered the great recession. and the cost was a little different between the two and even if yukon vert the original cost of the whole bridge end to end it is about one billion dollars in today's money and the newly span costs a little bit more than that. the duration of construction was also quite a bit different as well. and they did things a lot

faster back then in the 1930s, and for one thing they did not have to tangle with someone as form mittable as willie brown. [ laughter ].

>> doing it for many decades after that. here's the clincher the old one can't withstand the earthquake. the new one can. so far as alternative transportation the folks in the 30s were quite farsighted running trains on the old bring but didn't put a sidewalk on that even though the golden gate had one. the sidewalk will go all the way to the island the bike advocates will advocate to get it to san francisco after

that (clapping) and finally this is the one i particularly love it's about money. when the original bridge opened folks paid a dollar thirty to cross it that's $22 in today's economy. so tell me how bad they had if in the authorizes o 30s pr that's the old bridge and the new bridge. we're in oakland and it's fitting and a proper the first elected official is the chief of oakland. jean acquainting is one of my bosses so i'm sure her remarks will be excellent (clapping) >> and so welcome to oakland.

(clapping). >> you know when i became mayor, i said oakland is a city of dreams. it's been the city of dreams since the trans conditional railroad ended and thousand of cabinets would arrive every week. it's become the city of dreams base it's the place that immigrants can afford to live and one-hundred plus languages are spoken here. in many ways this bridge was a dream of some people. and like most things in oakland it has not been easy. we have very difficult political and economic and other hurdles h that when we ail come tooth are not the results beautiful. isn't it really beautiful?

so he texted the other mayor of oakland governor brown today and said we're sorry you're not here. for many of you who follow the fights he said he had an elegant view for this bridge. i know he had help from his brother they got it done and we have a bridge we can walk on today interest that he the bridge bridges our bridge bridges the economy and it's the symbol of what government can do. but the great structures mayor brown told me make sure you build things but this is really not only going to be the core of

much of our transportation and commerce in the bay area but i believe a symbol. i was teasing a negotiation times reporter he picked the best place to come to. i'm hoping we'll of move up a rank and the ability to walk out and symptomlize the commitment that the elected officials and m t c official just wave our hands. and other people to realize this is not an oakland project but i'll also call it the oakland that is a of the bay bridge. but it's speak symbol and lastly on a personal note ed lee and i joked about this.

about a one hundred and 50 something years ago there was a very famous picture of another great transportation and i'm not talking about this 77 years ago i'm talking about the trans conditional railroad came together. and in this picture of asian america studies i know that the bankers in the middle then the irish workings and the chinese workers who did the most dangerous part of it and today two chinese mayors are going to be bringing it together here in san francisco (clapping) and so on a personal note in the years of victorys of the martin luther king speech and that come

out said everybody should mayor whoever they want. this is how beautiful it is to have a place like the bay area where we dream and innovate and change the world >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome congresswoman 13th district. >> well good afternoon. let me first thank mayor quan for your tremendous leadership to all of our elected officials to marry lee and, of course, to marry willingly i didn't brown. let me just thank you ail for helping you tell to getting get to this day.

i want to thank the contractors and architects and manufactur manufacturesers. thank you for your long hours and hard work in the face of big challenges and those have been some major challenges that are paying off today. so give everyone who had a hand in this a big thank you. we must always honor the memory of folks who lost their lives in the earthquake. the contribution of this bridge first it's a beautiful structure

f that adds another iconic structure to our incredible bay area landscape. it's truly a gateway to the east bay community. second this bridge it insures our safety. we all remember the distribution brought by the earthquake. we know the daggers of a future quake that's why it's so for this is built to withstand a big quake. we will right lane on this bridge to maintain the resources in the case of a man made disagrees. third this has big impacts on our economy. it will prove the transportation

and health insurance this is a home to oakland. it will continue to serve as a place for folks on the other side of the bay. it's the toll payers who fund this. so we have to give our toll payers a round of sport for this measure (clapping) >> finally i'm so glad with the addition of bike and pedestrian lanes we're moving closer to an integrated mode of transportation that is good for our environment and community. so in closings thank you to everyone in our efforts and it's been eagerly awaited.

i've been in the senate and the assembly n for 15 years so i've eagerly awaited this day. rest assured i'll continue to be an advocate in congress even in this is this tough environment for transportation infrastructure. i wish you the best of lick and a very happy labor day. thank you. again (clapping) >> knoll let me introduce our tremendous leader in the california state senate darryl stein beggar. >> good afternoon to leaders from